The Monthly Economic Activity Index (Imacec) is an estimate that summarizes the activity of the different branches of the economy in a given month, at prices from the previous year; its inter-annual variation constitutes an approximation of GDP evolution. The calculation of the Monthly Economic Activity Index is based on multiple supply indicators, which are weighted by the share of economic activities in the previous year’s GDP.

The Monthly Economic Activity Index is published on the first business day of each month taking into account a lag of 31 days in relation to the month being measured. In addition to this, a breakdown is published which distinguishes mining from all other activities —mining and non-mining series—, as well as the series at factor cost. All series are presented in both original and seasonally adjusted figures.

Consistent with the established publication policy, the Monthly Economic Activity Index series are revised along with the quarterly and annual national accounts.

April 2020's monthly index of economic activity, Imacec

According to preliminary information, last April the Imacec fell 14.1% compared with the same month a year before. The seasonally-adjusted series fell 8.7% with respect to the previous month, and 12.4% in twelve months. April 2020 came with the same number of working days as April 2019.

The mining Imacec dropped 0.1%, while the non-mining index dropped 15.5%, impacted by the effects of the sanitary emergency. In this context, the hardest hit activities were services and retail and, to a lesser extent, construction and manufacturing industry. Among services, the drops in education, transportation, restaurants-hotels and entrepreneurial services stood out. In seasonally-adjusted terms, and with respect to the previous months, the mining Imacec rose 0.9% and the non-mining Imacec fell 9.7%.

Considering the challenges posed by the sanitary crisis to collect basic data, the Central Bank of Chile has made extra efforts with its information providers to minimize the impact on the quality of statistics. However, it must be noted that the numbers delivered on this occasion may be subject to greater revisions than historic ones, which will be disclosed in accordance with the calendar of National Accounts publication and revisions available on the Bank's website www.bcentral.cl.